On Monday, crude prices struggled for direction following signs that the output cut plan proposed by the OPEC could face more headwinds after Iraq hinted it wants to get excluded from the pact.
In New York, December delivery light, sweet crude futures lost 0.1%, getting a price of $50.82 a barrel. Meanwhile, December delivery Brent crude gained 0.14%, reaching $51.86 per barrel.
The subdued mood arose as Iraqi crude officials over the weekend were reported to have told that they wouldn’t scale back production which currently stands at abut 4.77 million barrels a day. By the way, Iraq turns to be the second largest OPEC producer after Saudi Arabia, so a collective output cut would be harder to achieve without it on board.
There’s an evident risk that Iraq’s refusal could provoke a domino effect that other OPEC members would ask to be exempt from the output cuts too.
OPEC members are expected to meet on November 30 for the purpose of discussing individual output quotas.
